Transfer Round-up of Summer 2021

The 2021 summer transfer window ultimately closed a few days back, and Max Statman brings you a short, on-point overview of the entire transfer window. We discuss the players that we signed and those who went away. Moreover, we review the overall Mercato.

Kaio Jorge

August 2, 2021: Santos announced an agreement with Juventus for the immediate transfer of Kaio Jorge, with the Italian side paying a rumoured fee of €3 million.
August 17, 2021: Juventus officially announced his transfer, signing him on a five-year contract. The 19-year-old Brazilian forward is considered a brilliant signing with a lot of potentials.

Manuel Locatelli

The transfer of Manuel Locatelli was the most awaited transfer of the summer.
August 18, 2021: Juventus announced the signing of Locatelli on an initial two-year loan, with Juventus holding an obligation to then purchase the player for €25 million – payable over three years – plus €12.5 million in potential add-ons. After months of negotiations, the Euro 2020 winner signed for Juventus, much to the joy of fans. In my opinion, the deal was definitely a bargain, given not a single penny was spent on him in this transfer window.

Moise Kean

The 21 years old Italian returned to his home as a last-minute replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo.
August 31, 2021: Kean returned to Juventus on a two-year loan deal for a loan fee of €7 million. Juventus are obliged to buy in summer 2023 for a reported €28m plus €3m in add-ons. The player scored 8 goals in 21 appearances in his last spell at Juventus.

Mohamed Ihattaren

August 31, 2021: Ihattaren joined Juventus, signing a four-year contract. He was promptly loaned to fellow-Serie A club Sampdoria on a one-year deal.

Merih Demiral

August 6, 2021: Atalanta announced the signing of Demiral from Juventus on loan with an option to buy. The Turkish defender signed for the Bergamo side as a replacement to Cristian Romero, who left the club for Tottenham.

Marco Pjaca

July 21, 2016: Pjaca signed a five-year contract with Juventus paying a €23 million transfer fee to Dinamo Zagreb. Previously, the player went on loan to Schalke, Fiorentina, Anderlecht and Genoa.
July 28, 2021: Pjaca joined Torino on loan with an option to buy.

Gianluca Frabotta

July 30, 2021: The Italian left-back moved to Hellas Verona on loan from Juventus.

Radu Drăgușin

August 31, 2021: Drăgușin made his club and European debut for Juventus on 2 December against Dynamo Kyiv. After renewing his contract with Juventus until 30 June 2025, the 19-year-old Romanian was sent on a one-year loan to Sampdoria.

Filippo Ranocchia

On August 31 2021, Ranocchia was loaned to Vicenza.

Nicolo Fagioli

Fagioli made his debut for Juventus against SPAL in a Coppa Italia game.

August 31, 2021: The Juventus youth product was sent on a one-year loan to Serie B side Cremonese. We hope to see more of him once he returns from the loan deal.

Hamza Rafia

January 13, 2021: Rafia made his senior debut for Juventus, coming on as a 77th-minute substitute in a Coppa Italia match against Genoa; he scored in the 104th minute, helping Juventus win 3–2 after extra time. Juventus went on to win the Coppa Italia title that season.

August 18, 2021: The 22-year-old Tunisian midfielder moved to Belgian side Standard Liège on loan.

Gigi Buffon

The beautiful story of the Juventus legend with the Old Lady came to an end the last season.

June 17, 2021: Parma announced the return of Buffon following his departure from Juventus. The goalkeeper went back to the club where he started his professional career completing the circle of life.

Cristian Romero

September 5, 2020: Romero joined Atalanta on loan until 30 June 2022 with an option to buy. At the end of the 2020/21 season, Atalanta triggered the option to sign Romero for €16 million.

Cristiano Ronaldo

August 27, 2021: Manchester United announced that they had reached an agreement with Juventus to sign Ronaldo, subject to agreement of personal terms, visa and medical. The transfer was reported as costing an initial £12.85 million, with a two-year contract plus an optional year, and was confirmed on August 31. After 3 glorious seasons with the Bianconeri, the Portuguese left the club in the most unpredictable circumstances. Leaving the club to make reinforcements in the dying days of the window.

Mercato Rating: 5/10

Review

• Apart from the Locatelli and Ronaldo saga, the window was very silent. The signing of Locatelli was an incredible move nonetheless.
• In my view, selling Demiral and Romero without replacing them was a bad decision by the club. It was pretty obvious that our veterans are in their final years and Radu was being sent on loan. Now all the responsibility is falling on Matthijs de Ligt’s shoulder.
• In addition, I believe that it is a mistake of the management that they failed to notice Ronaldo was willing to leave. If they had known this before or this was properly communicated among the two parties, then Juventus would have had enough time to replace him and utilise the money made from his departure.
• Losing Gigio Donnaruma to PSG was another disaster that could cost us more than we think in the future if Szczęsny doesn’t return to form.
• Finally, the failure of not offloading the deadwood. That has always been the main concern of the club. The likes of Ramsey, Bernadeschi and Alex Sandro staying another season while young promising prospects like Fagioli leaving on loan is a scenario that got to infuriate.